Albert Herring Albert Herring By Benjamin Britten Albert Herring, Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten. Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera The Rape of Lucretia.

The libretto, by Eric Crozier, was based on Guy de Maupassant’s novella Le Rosier de Madame Husson, but it was transposed entirely to an English setting.[1] Composition History After having composed and staged The Rape of Lucretia, Britten decided he should attempt a comedy, preferably set in England.[2] Eric Crozier suggested adapting the Maupassant short story Le rosier de Madame Husson and transplanting it to the Suffolk landscape already familiar to Britten from his home in Snape.[2] Britten composed Albert Herring at his home, The Old Mill at Snape, in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947.[2] He scored the opera for the same instrumental forces as he had used in his first chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia, intending it like the earlier opera for performance by the English Opera Group.[2] Performance History and Reception The opera was premiered on 20 June 1947 at Glyndebourne, conducted by the composer.

According to one writer the owner and founder of Glyndebourne, John Christie, “disliked it intensely and is said to have greeted members of the first night audience with the words: ‘This isn’t our kind of thing, you know’.”[3] Just 38 years later Glyndebourne’s 1985 production was “one of the most successful the opera has had”.[3] The opera was given its US premiere on 8 August 1949 as part of the Tanglewood Music Festival.[3] In 1949, Britten’s English Opera Group toured with both Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring, giving ten performances between 12–23 September in Copenhagen and Oslo:[4] an almost complete recording of one of their Copenhagen performances has been commercially released. Sviatoslav Richter called it “the greatest comic opera of the century”,[5] and in 1983 staged Albert Herring as part of the December Nights Festival at Moscow’s Pushkin Museum.[6] The opera was performed at Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón in 1972.

In 2008–2010, over 55 performances were given by companies such as those at Glyndebourne and the Portland Opera in Oregon (2008 season); the Opéra-Comique in Paris and the Opéra de Normandie in Rouen (2009); and, for 2010, at the Landestheater in Linz, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki and the Santa Fe Opera.[7] The Santa Fe production was given by the Los Angeles Opera in 2011. Vancouver Opera presented the work, in a co-production with Pacific Opera Victoria, in 2013. Time: April and May 1900Place: Loxford, a small market town in East Suffolk, England Act 1 Housekeeper Florence Pike is run ragged. Her mistress Lady Billows is organising the annual May Day festival, and has gathered all the important people of the village to vet nominees for the coveted position of Queen of the May. But Florence has dug up dirt on every single girl nominated, proving that none is worthy to wear the May Queen’s crown. Lady Billows is depressed.

Superintendent Budd suggests that the solution may be to select, this year, a May King instead of a May Queen. He knows of a young man in town who is as certainly virginal as the girls are not: Albert Herring. At the greengrocer’s, Albert is teased for his timidity by the easygoing Sid. Sid’s girlfriend Nancy comes in to do some shopping, and the couple shares a tender moment while Albert eats his heart out. The lovers leave, and Albert reflects on his miserable existence under his mother’s thumb. The Festival Committee arrives with the news of his selection as May King. Mrs. Herring is thrilled, Albert less so. Mother and son quarrel, to the mocking commentary of the village children. Act 2 It is the day of the festival. Sid and Nancy are preparing the banquet tent, and they take the chance to slip some rum into Albert’s lemonade glass.

Albert is tongue-tied at the feast in his honour, but drinks his lemonade greedily (which Britten satirically illustrates with a quote from Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde).[11] Together with his crown of flowers and the gruesome but improving Foxe’s The Book of Martyrs, he is awarded twenty-five pounds in prize money. That night, Albert arrives home alone, quite drunk. In the street, Sid keeps a date with Nancy, and the two discuss their sympathetic pity for Albert before going off together. This is finally the breaking point for Albert. He takes the prize money and heads out looking for adventure. Act 3 The next morning Albert has not returned, and the village is in a panic. Superintendent Budd is leading a search, while the guilt-stricken Nancy tends to Mrs. Herring. A boy shouts that a “Big White Something” has been found in a well, and the village worthies file in to break the news en masse that Albert’s crown of flowers has been discovered, crushed by a cart. Clearly, he is dead. A lengthy threnody of grief is interrupted by the surprise return of Albert. He thanks the Festival Committee for providing him with the cash for his night out.

They, in turn, are outraged by his tale of drunken debauchery, and leave in a huff. Albert finally stands up to his mother, and invites the village kids into the shop to sample some complimentary fruit. Musical Style and Character Themes Albert Herring is a musically complex work, despite its somewhat light-hearted subject matter. The text itself is genuinely funny, and there are myriad musical quotations within the score, as well as some complex forms within, despite the light subject matter. Like Peter Grimes and other works by Britten, this opera explores society’s reaction to an odd individual, although, in this case at least, it is from a generally humorous and lighthearted perspective.[12][13] Some of Britten’s contemporaries saw in the title character a satirical self-portrait of the composer.[14] Recordings Currently, there are five audio recordings of Albert Herring and one DVD recording, with the following artists: Year (Live recording of a performance in the Theatre Royal, Copenhagen, on 15 September) Members of the original cast.

Nimbus Learn and talk about Albert Herring, 1947 operas, Chamber operas, English-language operas, English comic operas Composition history[ edit ] After having composed and staged The Rape of Lucretia, Britten decided he should attempt a comedy, preferably set in England. [2] Crozier suggested adapting the Maupassant short story Le rosier de Madame Husson and transplanting it to the Suffolk landscape already familiar to Britten from his home in Snape. [2] Britten composed Albert Herring at his home, The Old Mill at Snape, in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947. [2] He scored the opera for the same instrumental forces he had used in his first chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia, intending it like the earlier opera for performance by the English Opera Group . [2] Performance history and reception[ edit ] The opera premiered on 20 June 1947 at Glyndebourne , conducted by the composer.

According to one writer, the owner and founder of Glyndebourne, John Christie , "disliked it intensely and is said to have greeted members of the first night audience with the words: 'This isn't our kind of thing, you know'." [3] Some 38 years later Glyndebourne's 1985 production was "one of the most successful the opera has had". [3] The opera received its U.S. premiere on 8 August 1949 at the Tanglewood Music Festival . [3] In 1949, Britten's English Opera Group toured with both Rape of Lucretia and Albert Herring, giving ten performances between 12–23 September in Copenhagen and Oslo. [4] An almost complete recording of one of the Copenhagen performances has been released commercially. Sviatoslav Richter called it "the greatest comic opera of the century" [5] and in 1983 staged Albert Herring as part of the December Nights Festival at Moscow's Pushkin Museum . [6] The opera was performed at Buenos Aires's Teatro Colón in 1972.

In 2008–2010, over 55 performances were given by companies such as those at Glyndebourne and the Portland Opera in Oregon (2008 season); the Opéra-Comique in Paris and the Opéra de Normandie in Rouen (2009);and, for 2010, at the Landestheater in Linz, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki and the Santa Fe Opera . [7] The Santa Fe production was given by the Los Angeles Opera in 2011. Vancouver Opera presented the work, in a co-production with Pacific Opera Victoria, in 2013. Australian television aired a live performance in 1959. [8] Act 1[ edit ] Housekeeper Florence Pike is run ragged. Her mistress Lady Billows is organising the annual May Day festival and has gathered all the important people of the village to elect the May Queen . But Florence has dug up dirt on every single girl nominated, proving that none is worthy to wear the once-much-coveted crown. Lady Billows is depressed. Superintendent Budd suggests that the solution may be to select, this year, a May King instead.

He knows of a young man in town who is as certainly virginal as the girls are not: Albert Herring. Working at the greengrocer's, Albert is teased for his timidity by the easygoing butcher Sid. Sid's girlfriend Nancy comes in to do some shopping, and the couple shares a tender moment while Albert eats his heart out. The lovers leave, and Albert reflects on his miserable existence under his mother's thumb. The Festival Committee arrives with the news of his selection as May King. Mrs. Herring is thrilled by the prize of ₤25, but Albert balks at being paraded in swan-white and mother and son quarrel to the mocking commentary of the village children. Act 2[ edit ] It is the day of the festival. Sid and Nancy are preparing the banquet tent, and they take the opportunity to slip some rum into Albert's lemonade glass. Together with a crown of flowers and the gruesome but improving Foxe's The Book of Martyrs , Albert is awarded twenty-five pounds in prize money.

Asked to make a speech, he is tongue-tied and becomes an object of pity at the feast in his honour, but after draining his lemonade glass (which Britten satirically underlines with a Tristan chord , alluding to the philter in that opera ). [12] and having a fit of hiccups he manages a few hip-hip, hurrahs. That night, Albert arrives home alone and quite drunk. In the street, Sid keeps a rendezvous with Nancy, and the two discuss their sympathetic pity for Albert before going off together. This is the breaking point for Albert, who has overheard. He takes the prize money and heads out looking for adventure. Act 3[ edit ] The next morning Albert has not returned, and the village is in a panic. Superintendent Budd is leading the search, while the guilt-stricken Nancy tends to Mrs. Herring. A boy shouts that a "Big White Something" has been found in a well, and the village worthies file in to break the news en masse that Albert's crown of flowers has been discovered, crushed by a cart. A lengthy threnody of grief follows, but is interrupted by the surprise return of Albert.

He thanks the Festival Committee for funding his night out. They, in turn, are outraged by his tale of drunken debauchery and leave in a huff. Albert finally stands up to his mother and invites the village children into the shop to enjoy some fruit at his expense. Musical style and character themes[ edit ] Albert Herring is a musically complex work, despite its somewhat light-hearted subject matter. The text is genuinely humorous, and the score, while matching the text in character, includes myriad musical quotations as well as some complex forms. Like Peter Grimes and other works by Britten, this opera explores society's reaction to an odd individual, although, in this case at least, it is from a generally humorous and lighthearted perspective. [13] [14] Some of Britten's contemporaries saw in the title character a satirical self-portrait of the composer. [15] There are five audio recordings of Albert Herring and one DVD recording, with the following artists: Year (Live recording of a performance in the Theatre Royal, Copenhagen, on 15 September) Members of the original cast.

Britten's comic hero Albert Herring: the only virgin in the village | Music | The Guardian Opera Britten's comic hero Albert Herring: the only virgin in the village How many operas feature a man who is crowned May Queen because no one can vouch for the virginity of the village girls? Andrew Mellor on Britten's comic gem, Albert Herring A shy boy about to break free ... Iain Paton in Opera North's 2002 production of Albert Herring. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian Andrew Mellor Share on Messenger Close One June night in 1947, an audience at Glyndebourne settled into its seats for the premiere of Benjamin Britten's new comic opera Albert Herring . Two years earlier, the composer had stepped into the operatic limelight with his grand and unsettling tragedy Peter Grimes. Albert Herring retained Grimes's Suffolk setting, but otherwise appeared completely different: a smallscale, genteel comedy reflecting the delightful idiosyncrasies of English village life. The audience chuckled its self-regarding approval, and Albert Herring was promptly filed under "inoffensive comic romp".

Give or take the odd attack on its musical validity, it has remained there ever since. But that might be about to change, as Opera North prepares to unveil its new production of the work in Leeds next week. And if any of Britten's major operatic works deserves wholesale reappraisal in the composer's centenary year, it's surely this one. Behind the opera's jolly japes and canny pastiches is one of Britten's boldest, most socially revolutionary statements: a piece hardwired into the youthful urge to experiment, rebel and break free. When I first heard Albert Herring as a teenager in the 1990s, against a backdrop of grunge and the cult coming-of-age TV drama My So-Called Life , it hit me like a freight train. Here was an opera that didn't feel anything like one: nobody dies; nobody dresses up as a member of the opposite sex; nobody so much as hides in a wardrobe. Instead, a confused and shy young man is crowned Queen of the May because no one can vouch for the virginity of any of the village girls.

He spends his prize money on a night of alcohol-fuelled debauchery, probably losing said virginity in the process. Five years earlier, Britten had abandoned a life in the US and returned to his native East Anglia. But as much as he felt rooted in Suffolk, Peter Grimes and Albert Herring represented fierce attacks on the small-town England of the mid-20th century. The composer's most recent biographer, Paul Kildea , writes of Britten "dealing with the suffocating awfulness of the British class system" when he started work on this new comedy. It's precisely this which Britten depicts in Loxford, the fictional Suffolk town where, circa 1910, Albert works in his mother's shop. Albert is a nerd, a loner, a victim of parental and societal repression. Physically strong, he is assumed by all around him to be mentally weak. Loxford festers under the feudal control of Lady Billows, an aristocrat with a Thatcherite flair for ensuring the village seniors bow to her rampant conservatism.

Albert is friendless but for the butcher Sid, who enjoys premarital, alfresco sex with his savvy girlfriend Nancy and urges Albert to break free from his mother's control. At the May celebratory dinner, Sid spikes Albert's lemonade with rum. Albert takes his chance – coerced into action by an acerbic parody of his own coronation music punched out by Britten's angry little orchestra. He escapes with his prize money, binge-drinks and starts a fight in a pub. There's the sure implication, in Eric Crozier's libretto, that Albert has a sexual encounter – possibly one he pays for. Some, including Kildea, point to a suggestion in the text that it might be with a man. Alexander Sprague will take the title role in Opera North's new production. "It's not so much the way Albert experiences the world when he has this night out – it's more what he realises he can do," the tenor says. "Britten is having a dig at the way children are brought up, the way people are squashed so their true personalities can't surface. It's a kind of 'up yours' to certain people.

It must be a reflection of how he was treated by society in his lifetime." Reading this on mobile? Click here to view Opera North's website touts Albert Herring as "endearing, light-hearted and funny". True enough. But Giles Havergal , the director, sees more in it. "Britten was writing about the world he confronted in 1947, particularly the class and generational conflict. We associate the breaking out of youth with the 50s and Look Back in Anger , but it was already in the air. People like Britten knew what was going to happen." Whether audiences receive the piece as a light comedy or a visionary argument for social change, Albert Herring has always proved a hit with ordinary people. (It's the not-so-ordinary people – the self-appointed curators of musical opinion, mostly critics and conductors – who have tended to shout it down for its perceived lack of musical value.) One reason they love it so much is that it contains some of Britten's most moving, honest and staggeringly inventive music.

The whole score effectively rests on a giant musical metaphor: Lady Billows and her cronies are always in control of the orchestra, their music taut and clipped, chugging away on the tracks of baroque pastiche, burning itself out in bloated, congesting fugues. Enter Sid and Nancy, and suddenly the music dances: it becomes rhapsodic, it slithers and soars, sweeping the orchestra along with it. It was the summer riots of 2011 that got me searching for my recording of Albert Herring, perhaps because it's the only opera I know that targets the hollow promises of commercial household brands. As the village flaunts its allegiance to Colman's mustard, Albert sings a fawning paean to Swan Vesta matches. Albert Herring: Longwood Opera The story | About the opera The story: The opera is set in a fictitious English market town, Loxford in Suffolk, in the early summer of 1900. Act One, Scene One Lady Billows, virtuous herself and self-appointed guardian of virtue in others, is anxious to select a May Queen in Loxford.

A representative group of local worthies (schoolmistress, vicar, mayor and policeman) gather at her home to discuss the candidates. Each candidate's suitability is brought in question, with reference to observations made by Lady Billows' assistant, Florence. Ultimately the idea of a May King is mooted and accepted. This honour is to be given to Albert Herring, who, with his mother, runs the greengrocer's shop. Act One, Scene Two Sid, the butcher's delivery boy, encounters Albert in his mother's shop. Albert is clearly dominated by his mother, and the arrival of Sid's girlfriend Nancy only serves to make him nervous and uncomfortable. When they have left, the committee comes to inform Albert of his election as King of the May. Albert is less pleased by the honour and prize of 25 pounds than his mother. Act Two, Scene One During the May Day festivities, Albert's friends surreptitiously ply his lemonade with rum. After his brief speech Albert drinks his lemonade and is immediately struck with hiccups. Act Two, Scene Two Albert returns home later that evening, elated by his success and by the rum.

While pondering his loneliness he overhears Sid and Nancy in the street outside discussing his being tied to his mother's apron strings. This provokes Albert to think of breaking free: he tosses a coin, and decides to go out and enjoy himself. Shortly after he leaves, his mum returns. Hearing no sound, she imagines Albert must already be asleep. Act Three The following afternoon Albert has still not yet returned home. It is presumed that he has had an accident and is dead. Albert returns dirty, disheveled and defiant after a bibulous night out on the town, upsetting those mourning his death. His vivid account of his drinking expedition shocks them further. He turns on his mother, accusing her of provoking him, and when the group of shocked townspeople has left him he assumes his position as master of the shop. About the opera: Albert Herring was written in 1947 as the first work for the newly formed English Opera Group, which was comprised of colleagues dedicated to the advancement of contemporary English opera.

It was written specifically to be a comic companion piece to Britten's recently completed operatic tragedy, The Rape of Lucretia (1946), with each sharing a chamber opera format (reduced instrumentation, no chorus and physical portability). Together with Peter Grimes (1945), these represent an astounding creative period of three full-length operas in as many years, all of which are masterpieces of a type and all still very much in the repertory! The three works also share a theme that is central to many of Britten's works throughout his career, that of the individual at odds with the society in which s/he lives. [J. Scott Brumit] Opera - 'Albert Herring,' by Berkshire Company - NYTimes.com Opera: 'Albert Herring,' by Berkshire Company By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN Published: August 12, 1987 LENOX, Mass., Aug. 11— Britten's ''Albert Herring,'' which the Berkshire Opera Company presented ably in the first of four performances last night, can be counted among the small group of nearly foolproof musical theater pieces.

Not unlike Thomson's ''Mother of Us All,'' ''Herring'' is informed by a humane comic vision in which the characters, no matter how absurd they may be, are touched and redeemed by a certain winning charm. There's always more to them than first meets the eye. In the Berkshire Opera's version of ''Herring,'' one sees this clearly enough. The housekeeper, Florence Pike, writes down sins of Loxford girls with one hand while keeping the other firmly around a rum-filled hip flask. Mr. Gedge, the vicar, and Miss Wordsworth, the teacher, may shake their heads over moral laxity in front of the prudish Lady Billows, but one guesses they're making mischief of their own when no one else is watching. And then there is Albert, who hates himself for being prim enough to become May King and have to wear virgin white. Like Superintendent Budd, who probably keeps a hip flask of his own, we root for Albert to break a law or two. And we like the mischievous but good-natured Sid for leading Albert down that path.

The plot sketches this out, but it is Britten's score - as it is Thomson's music in the case of ''Mother of Us All'' - that fills in details with precision, humor and grace. The composer adds his own jokes, using the love-potion motive from ''Tristan and Isolde'' whenever Albert drinks rum; more of the time, Britten's wit is subtler, as when he adds sex to Sid and Nancy's first-act love duet by undercutting the soft melody with a jazzy plucked bass line. ''Herring'' was adapted by Eric Crozier from a more somber Maupassant story, transplanting the setting from France to East Anglia. Britten and Crozier wrote the work in 1947 for the English Opera Group, which was intended to promote national opera in Britain through the creation of works requiring small numbers of singers and instrumentalists. ''Herring'' had its American premiere in 1949 at Tanglewood, just down the road from the converted, modern-looking, circular church on the grounds of the Cranwell Hotel, where the Berkshire Opera Company had the premiere of its own staging Monday night.

Repeat performances will be given Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings this week beginning at 7 o'clock. The Berkshire Opera Company is now in its third season under the artistic direction of Gary Glaze, and he took for himself the title role of ''Albert Herring,'' providing a performance that stood out for its telling dramatic touches and deadpan humor. Mr. Glaze's characterization had a subtlety that his voice, though all right, lacked. This Albert kept his head sunk into hunched shoulders and continually pushed his glasses back up his nose. Under the stage direction of Thomas Lee Rindge, the rest of the cast relied too often on facial mugging and broad gestures to get laughs, though performances were respectable enough to keep the opera moving happily along. Barbara Solomon was a dour Miss Pike. Jocelyn Wilkes blustered through the role of Mrs. Herring. As Mr. Gedge, Vaughn Fritts relied too much on keeping his hands clasped and head tilted to signify his religiosity, though much of what he sang sounded pleasant. Cherie Carl was an imposing Lady Billows.

Margery Hellmold, as Miss Wordsworth, should have fought off an attack of the cutes; Irwin Densen seemed nervous as Budd. James Javore made for a lively, appealing Sid, and Cynthia Munzer tried to put feeling into her lines when she sang about Albert's supposed death. The revolving set by Kennon Rothchild, with the outside of Lady Billows's house on one side and the inside of the Herring grocery on the other, was charming. Hugh Keelan conducted the dozen orchestra members in routine fashion but evoked a wistful, magical moment at the close of Act II. BRITTEN: Albert Herring Albert Herring In 1945 Benjamin Britten stunned the operatic world with the triumphant première of Peter Grimes, a tragic depiction of the social misfit, struggling unsuccessfully to exist in an alien society with which he cannot establish a connection. This grand opera, complete with large orchestra and prominent chorus, put British opera back on a map from which it had been virtually absent since the death of Henry Purcell in 1695.

The combination of story-telling and psychological study in Peter Grimes, infusing everyday life with the forces of darkness, set a precedent which characterized much of Brittens operatic output for the rest of his life. It was Brittens genius, of course, to bring these stories to musical life in powerful masterworks which transcend their often provincial English settings. Like Peter Grimes, Albert Herring is set in Brittens native Suffolk, and reflects a rural village sensibility. Herring, written and first performed in 1947, is, however, ostensibly very different from its grand predecessor. Brittens librettist for Albert Herring was Eric Crozier, who had suggested, as a possible opera subject, a short story by Guy de Maupassant, Le rosier de Madame Husson. Crozier adapted the story, relocating it from its original Normandy setting, and, with Britten, creating a cast of finely drawn characters and a scenario for a chamber opera. They created Albert Herring for their newly-formed English Opera Group, which had a mission to produce opera in English, on a small scale which could easily be toured.

There is no chorus, and, instead of a large orchestra, an instrumental ensemble of twelve players. Albert Herring is a comedy, set around the May Day celebrations of the fictional Suffolk village of Loxford. The major issue appears to be the crowning of a May King in the absence of a young woman of sufficient virtue to be May Queen. It could hardly be further from Peter Grimes, with its mysteriously missing fishermans apprentice boys. Albert Herring is also a study in Suffolk village mores, with its clear delineation of the population into an upper middle class of straight-laced  some might say straight-jacketed - worthies and an earthier, generally more appealing stratum of working class folk. Britten and Crozier clearly know this territory, and even the names of the characters, which could be straight out of Dickens, are borrowed from real people and places: Albert Herring himself is named after a shop-keeper near Brittens own Suffolk home; Harold Wood is a station on the Ipswich-to-Liverpool railway line; and Cissie Woodger was a local girl from Snape, the village which now boasts The Maltings concert hall.

The opera, however, has its own darker side, exemplified by the gravitas of the Threnody, sung by the town dignitaries upon discovering, as they think, that tragedy has befallen the May King. There is also the psychological issue of the dilemma of a dutiful young son who, at the age of 22, is more than ready to sow a few wild oats, despite being under the thumb of his mother, for whom he works in the village greengrocers. It is Brittens genius to create, with small chamber forces, a comic opera sparkling with character, wit, and, at times, great poignancy. Each individual in the cast has a distinct musical personality, paralleling his or her dramatic persona, whether in bantering dialogue, lyrical melody, or parodistic soliloquy, as in the May Day tributes offered by the local dignitaries: the swooping moral rectitude of Lady Billows; the flighty Miss Wordsworth, accompanied by a twittering flute; or the over-excited monotone of the pompous Mayor. The music of the local lovers Sid and Nancy, by contrast, is radiant with warmth and implicit sexuality.

It is the musical portrayal of Albert Herring himself which is, of course, central to the opera. Written for Brittens life partner and musical collaborator Peter Pears, the music reflects the characters sweet nature, his increasing frustration with his mothers-boy status, and his ultimate liberation. This musical characterization is typical of one of Brittens most extraordinary gifts: it is a vivid musical portrayal of the personality of the dramatic character, created by exploiting the specific musical and vocal attributes of the performer for whom it is written. To this day, the rôle of Albert Herring (or of Peter Grimes, or others) evokes for many the sound, which they may know from recordings if they never heard it live, of the voice and delivery of Peter Pears. This evocation provides a template for subsequent performers, as well as a challenge for them to make the rôle their own; but it ensures an individuality and a dramatic and musical coherence which make Brittens compositions so uniquely identifiable.

--- Act I In an East Suffolk village, Lady Billows and the local worthies discuss the forthcoming May Day celebrations and attempt to select the Queen of the May, a highly revered position awarded to a local girl for her virtue and modesty. It soon becomes clear that a suitable candidate will be difficult to find, as Florence Pike, housekeeper and second-in-command to Lady Billows, has a sordid tale about each of the girls. Lady Billows bemoans the condition of her town: A Sodom and Gomorrah/ Ripe to be despoiled. O spawning ground of horror! There is, however, a ray of hope: a King of the May. Albert Herring, who works in his mothers greengrocers shop, is suggested as a paragon of decency, though simple, of course. Reluctantly, Lady Billows agrees to teach the girls a lesson. The scene ends in jubilation as Virtue, personified by a simple village lad, triumphs over Sin and Temptation.

The hard-working Albert Herring, meanwhile, is teased by the roguish Sid for being tied to his mothers apron-strings and missing out on lifes joys. Nancy arrives, and while Albert retreats in embarrassment, Sid and Nancy sing of the pleasures of love. Albert expresses his frustration with being his mothers shop-boy, and his eventual rebellion seems inevitable. At this point, the deputation arrives to announce Alberts impending coronation as King of the May. Albert is mortified. Act II Preparations are under way for May Day, as Sid and Nancy spike Alberts lemonade to add to the entertainment. Each of the worthies makes a speech of congratulations, and with clumsy gallantry Albert raises his glass in thanks to Lady Billows. He drinks the rum-laced draft to the bottom and promptly dissolves in hiccoughs. Inside the shop that evening, a tipsy Albert listens to Sid and Nancy serenading each other outside. He becomes indignant at the way he has been used in the celebrations and feels foolish; he has had enough. He tosses a coin, pockets his virgin ransom and heads out of the shop, whistling triumphantly.

Act III The curtain rises on the town in a state of despair. Albert is missing, and the signs are ominous. The Mayor, the Superintendent and Sid appear with Alberts now bedraggled coronation wreath, prompting the grief-stricken singing of the Threnody. Suddenly, Albert returns, provoking both relief and anger, and gleefully tells his tale of drunken adventure. Mrs Herring turns on Albert, who retorts that she Protected me with such devotion / My only way out was a wild explosion! Mrs Herring is horrified, but Sid and Nancy are delighted as Albert celebrates his liberation. Sue Knussen Benjamin Britten - Albert Herring - Opera The small East Suffolk market town of Loxford, 1900 Synopsis In a small Suffolk market town Mr Gedge the Vicar, Police Superintendent Budd, Mr Upfold the Mayor and the local head teacher Miss Wordsworth meet at the home of Lady Billows to appoint at her behest a May Queen as an encouragement to local chastity. As they review the list of possibles, Lady Billows's housekeeper Florence Pike, armed with reports of unworthy behaviour, condemns each and every one.

Eventually none is left, and instead a May King is proposed and Albert Herring — blameless son of a widowed shopkeeper — is chosen. The group informs Albert and his mother at their shop — though the shy young man tries unsuccessfully to refuse. At the ceremony in a marquee in the vicarage garden, butcher's assistant Sid laces Albert's lemonade, so that his contribution to the occasion consists largely of hiccups and silence. Later, back in the shop, Albert casts envious glances at the affectionate relationship between Sid and his girlfriend Nancy and, armed with his prize money, sets off in search of a little adventure of his own. By the following afternoon, concern is growing at his disappearance. The police are called in. Eventually the hasty villagers decide that he must have come to a bad end, and begin to mourn him. Up turns Albert, however, to face a telling off for going absent without leave and shocked reactions from his elders and betters when his carousing in public houses is revealed.

Albert, of course, is unashamed, and celebrates his new-found independence by inviting three local kids into the greengrocers to share some peaches, tossing his May King's orange blossom wreath into the audience as a final gesture. Repertoire Note Britten’s second chamber opera was composed just a year after its predecessor, The Rape of Lucretia, in 1947. Yet the contrast in style and subject matter could not be greater: instead of a tragedy based on a tale from Roman antiquity, Albert Herring is a comic opera set in the imaginary East Suffolk town of Loxford at the turn of the 20th century. The score contains some of Britten’s wittiest musical invention and his gifts for parody and caricature, already evident in Peter Grimes, are given full reign. However, the work is far from being mere farce: Albert is a sympathetic and credible figure who, tied to his mother’s apron-strings and frustrated by small-town pieties, embarks on a debauched ‘rake’s progress’, a theme fully in keeping with the composer’s favourite subject of the loss of innocence.

Moreover, such poignant touches as the third-act Threnody, in which Albert, presumed dead, is solemnly mourned by the gathered townsfolk, makes Donald Mitchell’s description of the opera as ‘a serious comedy’ seem completely apt. Reproduced by kind permission of the Britten-Pears Library Moods OPERA: "Albert Herring" Music Center Recital Hall, UC Santa Cruz Presented by: Music Dept Event Date: Thursday, June 2, 2011 - Sunday, June 5, 2011 Nicole Paiement conducts a chamber ensemble of members of the UCSC Orchestra as well as student singers in a fully staged production of Benjamin Britten's three-act comic opera from 1947. Directed by Brian Staufenbiel. Performed in English with supertitles. Albert Herring synopsis: For years the straight-laced town leaders have chosen a sweet young thing to represent pure virtue at the annual Spring Festival. This year they can’t find a girl without moral blemishes, so instead of a queen they name as “King of the May” young Albert Herring, a timid clerk in his mother’s shop.

When his buddies spike his punch at the Coronation Banquet, Albert goes on an uncharacteristic bender and can’t be found the next morning — much to the dismay of the townsfolk.

Question: Who composed the opera 'Albert Herring' in 1947?
Answer: Benjamin Britten